By:
• Uth Raksmey

• June 14, 2024 , 7:15 PM

SIEM REAP – Tam Ti is a teacher in charge of discipline at Prasat Koul Primary School in Siem Reap. Rather than using pressure tactics for students to follow the rules, he helps them in other ways. He provides free haircuts so that they have proper hairstyles.

Many of these students are from low-income families and can't afford proper haircuts. His selfless act not only improves the students’ lives but also strengthens discipline at the school.

As a discipline teacher, Tam Ti always checks the behavior and self-preparation of students to maintain order. He noticed that students from some families can’t afford a haircut, even if the teacher tells them to.

“Some families can’t afford to get a haircut,” he said. “Some parents go to Thailand. Their children don't have money to get a haircut because they live with their grandparents. 

“When they did not have a haircut, I remembered that if we cut his hair uncleanly, he would be ashamed.

“He would not want to come to school. So, I asked the school principal to buy a pair of scissors to cut the students’ hair,” Tam Ti said.
The 35-year-old teacher is not a professional hairdresser but attempts to style male students’ hair professionally.

Initially, he wanted to learn, but the $150 tuition fee made him reluctant. Instead, he observed how to cut hair when he went for a haircut and asked the school principal to buy haircut material after that. 

However, Tam Ti also has good haircutting abilities. Many of his pupils, not only poor ones, have volunteered to get their haircuts from him because he cuts it for free at the school, where students come to learn without having to pay or travel far.

Tam Ti has dedicated his physical and mental strength to educating students to walk on the right path. 

He considers the teacher as the second parent of the students because students who don’t receive enough care can only get better care from no one other than their teacher who is always kind to all children, teaches and helps them. 

“I want to see school has the same hair standard for male students and female students. When they have beautiful hair, we are happy like parents to see their children can learn to prepare themselves without wanting money from them,” he said.

“It is important that students should have good habits in their community.” 

Tam Ti expects that his lessons and actions will become good models for students to be better prepared and become good leaders. 

He said students have shown great discipline by expressing their desire for a haircut during break time or even requesting their class teacher’s permission to have their hair done before class. 

They aspire to have stylish haircuts like their peers. Tam Ti is delighted with these positive changes and is always ready to assist whenever the students approach him for a haircut, even if it means pausing his other work.

 

Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Chhuon Kongieng for Cambodianess